Decision details

The County Council must increase recycling and reduce the amount of residual waste. In order to increase the recycling rate the Council needs, together with district and borough partners, to work differently to make sure as much as possible is removed from the waste stream. By changing the way recycling services are funded, the aim is to drive change in the amount and variety of material collected for recycling. The County Council is working closely with district and borough partners to ensure this change has the desired effect and works towards a cleaner, greener, West Sussex.

It is recommended that:

(1) The County Council formally notifies all of the County’s District and Borough Councils of the termination of the current Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) funding arrangement.

(2) The County Council proposes a payment to be made to waste collection authorities of £61.12 per tonne for the financial year commencing 1^st April 2019.

(2) The Director of Energy Waste and Environment is authorised to work with District and Borough partners on an alternative approach to any payments related to improved recycling performance from 2020/21. This is to take into account:-

(a) Changes in producer responsibility funding for household recycling collection and processing signalled in the Government’s Policy Paper "Our Waste, Our Resources, a Strategy for England" (published on 18 December 2018);

(b) Any proposals that emerge from discussing performance improvements with the D&B partners;

(c) statutory obligations; and

(d) Overall affordability, given the County Council’s projected financial position. 

(3) Authority is delegated to the Director of Law and Assurance to settle arrangements for the removal of references to the MoU in the Materials Resource Management Contract and the Recycling and Waste Handling Contract.

The report has been amended to take account of matters raised at the Environment Communities and Fire Select Committee at its meeting on 14 January 2019.

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